Potential BHS buyers told to increase bids

Monday 16 May 2016 - Philip Gallagher

Parties interested in BHS have been told by administrators to increase their offers.

Duff & Phelps, which was brought in as BHS’s administrator four weeks ago, has reportedly told a number of bidders that they must raise their offer, before the cut-off point on Tuesday 17.

According to the Financial Times, one buyer was told to increase their offer by “tens of millions.”

“We are dealing with a number of interested parties and are hopeful of concluding a sale of the business and assets of BHS next week,” a Duff & Phelps spokesperson said on Sunday.

It is as of yet unclear who the front-runners are in the race to acquire BHS, and whether they intend to purchase the entire company, thus taking on the £571m pension deficit, or just buy parts of the chain’s estate.

The parliamentary investigation into BHS is still ongoing. Anthony Gutman, a Goldman Sachs banker who reportedly advised Sir Philip Green on his now infamous £1 sale of BHS in 2015, is scheduled to appear before MPs. Goldman Sachs has claimed that it only ever filled in an informal advisory role, and did not earn a fee for the transaction itself.